Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Boniface Town Hall / St. Boniface Public School / St. Boniface Minor Seminary / Carmelite Order Convent (Masson Street, Winnipeg)

Now the site of single-unit dwellings in Winnipeg, this St. Boniface site was once home to a structure built in 1855 for the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Located at the corner of Tache Avenue and Masson Street, the building was received by the Oblate Fathers in 1875. They used it as their headquarters until the completion of St. Boniface College. The site then hosted public school classes of what would later become Provencher School as well as functioning as the local municipal hall, with duties of both being replaced in 1906, with openings of the new school and new St. Boniface City Hall. Overflow school classes were occasionally held here through the years. In 1907, the building was renovated and expanded, becoming host to the Minor Seminary of St. Boniface. In October 1910, a clock donated by Archbiship Langevin’s home parish of St. Isidore de Laprairie, Quebec was mounted on the structure. The Minor Seminary (also known as the Petite Seminaire, or Little Seminary) moved into the St. Boniface College in 1912, and decades later, to a new site off La Fleche Street. The premises became home to the Sisters of the Carmelite Order that same year, with the first five Carmelite nuns arriving via the Canadian Pacific Railway on 26 July 1912. They took up residence in the former seminary which served as their home until 1929 when the building was demolished.

Site Location (lat/long): N49.89068, W97.12335 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Boniface City Hall (219 Provencher Boulevard, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Boniface Minor Seminary (615 La Fleche Street, Winnipeg)

Sources:

Map Shewing the City of Winnipeg and parts of the Parishes of St. Boniface and St. John, 1881.

Map Shewing the City of Winnipeg and parts of the Parishes of St. Boniface and St. John, 1882.

McPhillips Map of the City of Winnipeg, City of St. Boniface, and Vicinity, 1910.

“Clock for Minor Seminary,” Manitoba Free Press, 24 October 1910, page 20.

“Carmelite arrive at western home,” Manitoba Free Press, 27 July 1912, page 7.

Western Canada Fire Underwriters Association, H7 614.42 edc Series 2 St. Boniface, Folder 1 - April 1919, Archives of Manitoba.

“St. Boniface,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 December 1922, page 21.

“Carmelite Order Sisters celebrate anniversary,” Manitoba Free Press, 7 May 1925, page 4.

“[Charged with breaking into the Carmelite monastery...],” Manitoba Free Press, 7 September 1927, page 3.

“Old landmark in St. Boniface to disappear,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 October 1929, page 3.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 5 September 2021

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